Life Above All is based on the novel, Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton. It’s about Chanda, a young girl in South Africa who finds herself living in a world where many people in her family are falling ill from AIDS, yet no one speaks openly about the issue. The story is centered around the love between Chanda and her mother. When Chanda’s mother falls ill and returns to live at her grandmother’s, Chanda is left to care for her two younger siblings.

I was touched by Chanda’s determination to fight for her mother and and her friend, both of whom endure bitter discrimination from the neighbors due to their illness. The title should actually be “Love Above All” because the true lesson from the film is that we must have love for one another above anything else.